Landlords in Ann Arbor are 

pushing ahead with fall leasing 
for the 2021-2022 school year, 
despite the ongoing COVID-
19 pandemic, while students 
question if they should sign 

leases as early as they have in 
prior years.

The fall leasing period many 

Ann Arbor landlords observe — 
in which tenants whose leases 
start shortly before the academic 
year begins are asked to decide 
whether to renew less than three 
months into their lease — has 

pushed students to make quick 
decisions about their off-campus 
living 
situations 
for 
years. 

Under the circumstances of the 
pandemic, however, long-term 
planning and dealing with these 
early deadlines have become a 
bigger challenge for students.

This is the case for LSA 

sophomore Mia Waelchli, who 
in late August moved into an 
apartment unit managed by 
Varsity Management, a company 
that manages more than two 
dozen off-campus properties 
in Ann Arbor. A little more 

Sandra Steingraber, an alum of 

the University of Michigan and 
former opinion writer for The 
Michigan Daily, said she doesn’t 
remember the University’s first 
arrest following the deputization 
of 
campus 
police 
officers. 

Steingraber, who was a Rackham 
student at the time and now 

teaches environmental studies at 
Ithaca College, was unconscious. 
She was carried away on a 
stretcher by the Ann Arbor Fire 
Department after being thrown 
to the ground by an Ann Arbor 
police officer on Oct. 6, 1988.

“I have a really strong memory 

of the back of my head hitting the 
pavement because it just sounded 
like a metal bat hitting a ball,” 
Steingraber said. 

When Leo Heatley, director of 

the University’s Department of 
Public Safety, draped his coat over 
Steingraber, Cale Southworth, 
then a colleague of Steingraber’s 
at The Daily, demanded Heatley 
get off her. Heatley then threw 
Southworth to the ground. After 
Southworth tried to run away, 
DPS Assistant Director Robert 
Pifer arrested him. Heatley and 
Pifer were the first two public 
safety officers deputized at the 
University. 

Prior to former University 

President 
James 
Duderstadt’s 

inauguration, 
dozens 
of 

protesters 
demonstrated 
on 

North University Ave. Students 
criticized what they called a 
clandestine process to install 
Duderstadt as president, alleging 
violations of the Open Meetings 
Act, 
which 
requires 
local 

governing 
bodies 
to 
conduct 

their business transparently. The 
students also took issue with 

Duderstadt’s 
ties 
to 
military 

research. 

Steingraber attempted to enter 

Hill 
Auditorium 
with 
Rollie 

Hudson, an opinion writer at 
The Daily, to cover the ceremony. 
Steingraber said when Hudson 
reached 
into 
his 
pocket 
to 

display his press pass to the law 
enforcement officers blocking the 
entrance, police tackled him to 
the ground.

“He started bleeding and they 

were grinding his head to the 
pavement, and it became suddenly 
very 
dreamlike,” 
Steingraber 

said. “It was as if no sound was 
coming out of my mouth.”

She and other students followed 

Hudson as police allegedly tossed 
him in the unmarked car. 

“He started to smear his blood 

on the inside of the windows to 
show us that he was bleeding,” 
Steingraber said.

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, October 14, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

The 
Washtenaw 
County 

Health Department alerted the 
public Monday afternoon to a 
possibility of exposure at two Ann 
Arbor restaurants, Brown Jug on 
S. University Ave. and Chapala 
Mexican Restaurant on N. Main 
St. Anyone who was at Brown Jug 
from Oct. 1-3 and Oct. 6 and Chapala 
on Oct. 1 should quarantine and 
monitor for symptoms.

Currently, 13 cases are linked to 

the two restaurants, not including 
six positive cases at popular 
student bar and restaurant Brown 
Jug dating back to August. 

Jimena Loveluck, health officer 

for Washtenaw County, noted 
that contact tracing is difficult 
with cases coming from public 
interactions in a restaurant setting. 

“In most situations, we can 

contact individuals exposed to 
COVID-19 directly,” Loveluck said. 
“Unfortunately, with the number 
of positive cases that report visiting 

each of these establishments at 
crowded times, there is a possibility 
of widespread, public exposure.”

After the first cases were linked 

to the Brown Jug, the restaurant 
closed from Aug. 30 to Sept. 
8. Owner Perry Porikos, who 
also owns the Blue Leprechaun 
and Study Hall Lounge in Ann 
Arbor, told all employees who 
tested 
positive 
to 
quarantine 

in 
accordance 
with 
health 

department protocol.

In an interview with The 

Michigan Daily, Porikos said he 
implemented several new safety 
protocols, 
including 
having 

employees come in through the 
same entrance, increasing the 
frequency of testing and installing 
plexiglass 
barriers 
between 

booths. However, one concern 
has been the number of patrons 
waiting in line outside the bar, and 
the difficulty of making sure they 
are social distancing and wearing 
masks. 

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 3
©2020 The Michigan Daily

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O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

A RT S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 0

STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

SPORTS.......................15
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

CORONAVIRUS

Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

JULIANNA MORANO

Daily Staff Reporter 

JEREMY WEINE/Daily

Landlords in Ann Arbor say they are pushing ahead with fall leasing for the 2021-2022 school year.

See POLICE, Page 3

Graduate students’ anti-policing demands echo 
demonstrations over armed officers decades ago

The Daily outlines history of law enforcement at the University of Michigan , activism in response to deputization of officers 

Landlords move forward with 
fall leasing period, rent increases

Uncertainties surrounding pandemic lead students to question signing leases

New COVID-19 cases 
traced to Brown Jug, 
Chapala restaurants 
located in Ann Arbor

See COVID-19, Page 2

Photos from The Daily archives feature Rollie Hudson center, Sandra Steingraber, then a reporter for The Michigan Daily, top right.

Washtenaw County advises visitors from 
last week to monitor symptoms, quarantine

CALDER LEWIS
Daily Staff Reporter 

BEN ROSENFELD

Daily News Editor

See LEASE, Page 3

